CropsRangunia's Gumai Beel in Chattogram has a record 3,500 hectares of Aman rice now coming into ear, but encroachment, urban growth and brick kilns have taken about 50 hectares of its farmland in a decade.
CropsA low over the Bay of Bengal could become a cyclone within 72 hours and strike India's east coast on 27-28 October; with heavy rain likely in Bangladesh from 27 October to 2 November, farmers are advised to harvest ripe paddy, delay seedbeds and drain their fields.
CropsIn Gazna Beel in Sujanagar, Pabna, 2,500 hectares of broadcast aman are choked by water hyacinth. Farmers say spraying poison only helps for a while and want the weed pulled out by hand in the dry season.
CropsIntense heat and a lack of rain have left Aman fields short of water across 15 unions and the municipality of Pirganj, Rangpur, with soil cracking in places; farmers are paying for extra irrigation just as the panicles emerge.
GalleryProthom Alo's photographers on 21 October caught the Aman harvest in Rajbari, trawlers moored in Barishal during the hilsa ban, fishing on the Phuljhor river, a kite over Sylhet, and railway creeper, rose mallow and wild flowers.
CropsNandigram in Bogura has planted aman rice on 19,540 hectares this Kharif-2 season, almost exactly its target; the plants are at the booting stage and harvesting starts in mid-Kartik.
CropsIn Tanore, Rajshahi, transplanted aman paddy is yellowing and collapsing under what farmers call a "satra" pest attack; insecticides for planthopper and rot have not worked, and drought has pushed costs to Tk 14,000 to 16,000 a bigha.
CropsTauhidul Islam Shaheen of Sadullapur, Gaibandha, has planted 11 rice varieties, including Kanthali, hybrid Chinigura, Jamuna and long basmati, on six acres this Aman season, aiming to produce quality seed for himself and neighbouring farmers.
CropsIn Dinajpur Sadar, branches and bamboo stakes in Aman fields give magpie robins, drongos and mynas a perch to hunt insects; about 65 percent of farmers use the cost-free method, extension officers say.
Mealybugs have attacked Aman rice fields across Kurigram, including Ulipur and Rajarhat; the extension office says drought may be driving the outbreak and is advising farmers in the field.
CropsAman covers 22,800 hectares on 180 Teesta chars in Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Nilphamari, with a good crop; farmers fear a rise in the river will drown low-lying paddy before it is cut.
CropsFarmers in Barashashi union of Panchagarh's Boda say they got no advice from their block's sub-assistant agriculture officer even as pests damaged their aman; he denies it and the upazila officer says the complaints will be checked.
GalleryAfter the monsoon, Aman rice now covers Gumai Beel in Rangunia, Chattogram; a photo story by Prothom Alo photographer Sourav Das.
